Wednesday, November 5, 2008

What MKs do for fun

This morning, some of the high school boys showed up at our house and asked if they could play in our yard. We were happy to oblige and I enjoyed watching the 'show' (yes, yes, I know, guns and shooting and war is kind of controversial...maybe they are future Marines?)! It kind of looks like fun, although I'll bet those little pellets can give a sting! Probably why they are in sweatshirts and sunglasses?













Living in the city like we do, there is probably not a whole lot for the kids to do...this is a whole different experience than I had! The boarding school I attended growing up was out in the country and we had lots of room to roam and play. Every day was a new adventure, climbing trees, riding horses, swimming in the creek, going to the river, eating mangos and guayabas...so much to do! When I was younger, we only had electricity from a generator from 6-10 p.m. in the evening (well, I guess they turned it on a few mornings a week so people could do laundry...oh yes, and a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon so we could watch Little House on the Prairie or other shows), so we didn't watch much t.v. or play video games--we spent most of our time outside. Watching these guys play today brought back memories of the games we used to play...capture the flag (in the dark spread across the whole property-terrifying for me when I was younger!), soccer, flag football, slaves (don't ask!), etc.
Our interests seem to come in seasons, for a time skateboards were the rage, then marbles, then match-box cars, then water-balloons (we would name them and tenderly care for them for weeks at time!), then bicycles, basketball, baseball, etc. I'm sure I drove my parents crazy begging for each new "thing". I never did get a bicycle, though, even though my little sister got one later...hmmm...

5 comments:

Ellie said...

When I look at those photos, I remember, too. I loved being a MK. I think we really knew how to have fun!

I never went to boarding school, but we still had fun. Memories of an entire team of adults and kids playing sardines or capture the flag in the dark, indoor games of "Fritz Sits in the Bathtub", and other crazy things. I watch kids now and think they are just missing out on having real fun!

Could be my overactive sense of humor comes from these times of crazy play?

The Guthries said...

Thanks for the comment over at my blog and thanks foe enlightening me on what my future may look like one day with my boy :-)

Blessings,
Carin

Rebecca Conduff Aguirre said...

@Ellie-Sardines!!! How could I forget??!! We would play that sometimes in the dorms late at night when the generator was off. I actually didn't like it very much because I was afraid of the dark...I remember usually being the last one-one time there were about 20 people crammed in one of the shower stalls in the girl's bathroom (it was a big stall!). So much fun...

@duane and carin-yeah, boys! And I have 3! We try to limit the guns and fighting, like "people aren't for shooting" etc, but it's just a boy thing! I mean, they chew their crackers into gun shapes and shoot each other!!! sigh. So yeah...what we have to look forward to! :)

Alan & Beth McManus said...

Capture the Flag and Sardines. What memories. We MK's would just wander around the city and then when it was dark, go to our favorite park to play capture the flag. It was so fun! (Times have changed, though, and it is too dangerous to allow the kids to just wander around like we did.)

We usually played sardines in pairs, mostly because I was terrified of the dark and my sister and I were the leaders of the "gang." If my sister told everybody that we were playing in pairs, that was the way it was going to be. We did a lot of "forcing" others to "be nice" to each other.

Rebecca Conduff Aguirre said...

@Beth-that's how my older sisters were, too! Interesting...

Also, we grilled steaks for supper, the cut they call #7 because the bone is in the shape of a 7. Sure enough, as soon as Jojo got one of those bones, he turned it and began "shooting" everyone with his "pistol"! :) Boys...